There are a couple of things I noticed about these two sonnets. Both of them emphasize love and much it imprints on the mind of the person. Shakespeare's sonnet is about how love is resilient; he casts a bit of doubt with the first three lines, but then goes to use metaphors about how enduring love is. Millay's sonnet is the opposite in that it describes how fleeting love is and how easy it is to forget the things you love.
Shakesphere's sonnet follows a straightforward rime scheme where it rimes every other line. Except for the last three. Here he lays out his feelings about everything he stated with the rest of the work "But bears it out even to the edge of doom" (12). The last two lines are separated from the rest of the sonnet on purpose for extra effect.
Millay's sonnet as stated follows the typical rime scheme of the Italian sonnet for the first eight lines, in this case abab. The following 6 lines bring a little more depth to what Millay is saying by using birds and seasons as a comparison for lost loves. But I can't seem to figure out the rime scheme if there is any. Can anyone clue me in about it?
LIVED DOMESTICITIES
Excellent observation about the relationship between mind and love in Shakespeare's sonnet- "true minds" - and the form of the sonnet(1). Think about how the form contributes to the meaning of the sonnet.
ReplyDeleteLook at the definition of an Italian sonnet on page 654, right above Millay's sonnet; there, it states that the last six lines can take many variations of rime schemes.